The survey of 2,307 adults conducted by Harris Interactive Aug. 13 to 20 found more than two-thirds of Americans display a moderate interest in the news, indicating that keeping up with the news is one of many ways they like to spend their leisure time.

Thirteen percent self-described themselves as "news junkies," while 18 percent said they were not really interested in the news.

There are more male news junkies than female -- 17 percent of men said they follow the news closely, compared with 9 percent of women.

Younger adults are especially likely to express a lack of interest in following the news -- 31 percent of the echo boomers, or the generation following the baby boom, said they lacked interest in the news; followed by 23 percent of gen X, or those born 1964 to 1982; 10 percent of baby boomers, or those born from 1946 to 1964 and 6 percent of matures, or those age 65.

Online is the dominant mode among echo boomers, while TV remains the dominant mode for gen Xers and the older groups.

Those who prefer getting their news online are more likely than other preference groups to limit their reading to headlines, plus one to two stories in full.

The 51 percent of who prefer getting their news online and the 53 percent who prefer getting their news in print are considerably more likely than those preferring TV to be lured in by interesting data or research, the survey said.

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